1. Field of the Invention
To protect the knees of a passenger seated in a front passenger compartment during a head-on collision of an automotive vehicle, a knee protector may be installed in a space inside an instrument panel, or dashboard, structure. Such a knee protector typically includes a pair of resiliently bendable metal leaf springs secured to the instrument panel structure at a separation which should be approximately equal to a distance between the knees of a typical occupant. The metal leaf springs are resiliently bent by the passenger's knees so as to absorb the impact of the passenger's knees against the instrument panel structure upon the occurrence of a head-on collision, thereby protecting the passenger.
2. Description of Related Art
The front passenger compartment of an automobile typically includes, in the instrument panel structure, a glove compartment or glove box, such as that described in Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. 62-47437, which extends, in a widthwise direction of an instrument panel, in front of the front passenger seat and turns about a transverse axis to open towards the front passenger seat. However, a knee protector of an automotive vehicle is preferably disposed within a space traversed by the glove box as it turns between its closed and open positions. Consequently, in a typical instrument panel structure, the pair of resiliently bendable metal leaf springs can not be separated by the standard distance between knees of a passenger.
Accordingly, as is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a knee protector is preferably formed by a pair of resiliently bendable metal plates 5L and 5R, separately disposed on opposite sides of a glove box 4. The glove box 4 is mounted, by a hinge 3, on a lower portion of an instrument panel structure 2, supported by a cylindrical main frame 1. The main frame 1 is disposed between front pillars (not shown) and extends in a widthwise direction of a car body.
The glove box 4, having a lid portion 4a and a rear end wall portion 4b, turns or pivots about the hinge 3 to open toward a passenger seat. Curved metal plates 5L and 5R, which form springs functioning as knee protectors, are resiliently bendable and secured to the main frame 1 on transversely opposite sides of the glove box 4.
Each protective metal plate 5L or 5R has an upper end portion, welded to an outer surface of the main frame 1, and a mid portion, extending downward from the main frame and, after being bent into a substantially U-shape at a lower end thereof, towards the passenger seat. The knee protector metal plates 5L and 5R are partly located in the path followed by the rear end wall portion 4b of the glove box 4 as the glove box is moved to its open position, shown by a double dotted line in FIG. 1. The lid portion 4a of the glove box 4, which is of multi layer structure, has a rectangular reinforcement plate 6 in a cushioning enclosure 7 which is embedded in the lid portion 4a. This reinforcement 6 is disposed so as to have its opposite ends placed between the knee protector metal plates 5L and 5R, respectively, when the lid portion 4a moves towards the knee protector.
Construction of the knee protector in this way permits the knee protector metal plates 5L and 5R to receive an impact load, exerted on the lid portion of the glove box 4 by a passenger's knees, through a portion of the lid portion 4a in which the reinforcement plate 6 is provided. Consequently, knee protector metal plates 5L and 5R bend, thereby absorbing the impact load applied by the passenger's knees.
The rectangular reinforcement 6 has a large area and a transverse length similar to but a little shorter than a distance between the knee protector metal plates. Since the reinforcement 6 is embedded in the lid portion of the glove box, it is necessary to form the reinforcement from a plate having a high rigidity, resulting in an increase in weight of the lid portion 4a and a decrease in volume of the glove box 4.